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Showing posts with label travel tips. Show all posts
Showing posts with label travel tips. Show all posts

Jul 11, 2016

Find My iPhone - Locate Your Misplaced Phone As Well As Sanity

Find My iPhone - Locate Your Misplaced Phone As Well As Sanity

Find My iPhone feature of iPhone not only can find your phone within the exact address as we know first hand (story below), but the latest feature that the phone has is that you can use it to locate a misplaced phone as well. Using another iPhone or computer, login into iCloud and Find iPhone. Afterward, you can turn on sound on your missing phone, even if it is on vibrate. The feature will override it and will play a loud ping sound continuously for two minutes to help you locate the phone. It is a great thing to know for someone who is always looking for their phone.

Other things that you can do using the Find My iPhone app:

• Remotely lock your device with a passcode

• Display a custom message on the Lock Screen

• View recent location history of your device while in Lost Mode (iOS devices)

• Get driving directions to device's location

• Remotely erase all content and settings on your device

• Battery charge indicator


Did You Know?:

How to turn on Find My iPhone for your iPhone or iPad
  1. Launch the Settings app on your iPhone or iPad.
  2. Tap on iCloud.
  3. Tap on Find My iPhone.
  4. Turn On the option for Find My iPhone.
Related articles:
10 Great Smartphone Camera Hacks For Travel
What is the one thing you can't travel without?
Finders Keepers - How To Find and Keep Your Travel Gadgets
Amazon Prime - Why I Use It For All My Travel and Gadget Needs

Our lost phone story:
"Going into an elevator I and my wife reached for the elevator door that was stuck at the same time. Bump. Since my wife was also holding her phone in that hand it went flying. We both watched in slow motion as it went to the floor and somehow tilted on its side and was able to slide through almost the same width opening between the body of the elevator and platform. It ended up going down into the basement.
We called the superintendent, and he let us know that it is a big fall but not far, however, there was water at the bottom. That did not sound great. Neither did the fact that he could not go down and access it. Though he was able to tell us that elevator maintenance would be able to do that. During a workday. And this happened on Sunday.
The next day coming back to the same spot, we noticed that it looked like some work was done on the broken door and we were hopeful that the same people were able to access the basement and retrieve the phone. Super did confirm that some maintenance guy did come by but he was not sure where the phone was located. So this is when we decided to turn on Find My iPhone via computer and check it out. Once the map came up, there it was, several miles in a different borough. Turns out not only did the maintenance guy find the phone, he decided to take it with him.
After contacting the super, who contacted the elevator company, who in turned contacted the guy, we were able to confirm that he had possession of the phone. Through this same chain, we received the phone back. Though it seems that the guy was not happy about us tracking him down, and decided to run over the phone with his boot or car as it was very damaged. Thankfully, the Geniuses at Apple Store were able to retrieve some of the data and give us a replacement. We are very thankful for the Find My iPhone app and have it turned on on all of our devices."

Sound-off: Have you used Find My iPhone app or any other similar ones? Or had other situations with "misplaced" phones? Tell us your story below


Is your phone/tablet/computer open to hacking? Protect the ones you love with a PIA VPN service for safe and secure Web Browsing: VPN for Android VPN for iOS

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Jun 27, 2016

Road Trips With Kids - What To Take Along


Road Trips With Kids - What To Take Along

Last weekend, we took a road trip to NJ to pick strawberries. On the way, my daughter got sick all over the car seat. It was all over my arm, herself, the doll - you get the picture. It was not pretty. It made me seriously re-consider what we stash in the car.


Also, now that she’s getting older, she needs something entertaining. (Before she would just zonk out and it was glorious!)

Below is a quick survival kit that you can stash in the car or bring with you:

On the Go Potty - Below are our picks:
Kalenco Potty
Cool Gear Travel Potty
Boy portable Potty 
Folding Seat Cushion
While you are at it, get some toilet covers for older kids and yourself

Disposable wee wee pads - when my little one got sick, these came in handy! The car seat was wet so we padded with this sheet and threw one over her (new) clothes just in case of another accident. They are also great for potty training! These are a good value on amazon: http://amzn.to/1UXio5H Don't worry that they say Pet or have a picture of a dog, they work great for kids too at the price :)

Hand Wipes - I really wish I stashed more! We needed a ton. I use these: Babyganics Alcohol-Free Hand Sanitizing Wipes

Baby Wipes - You never know what kind of situation may arise but you bet your baby’s bottom you’ll need at least a pack

Change of clothes - Refresh every 1-2 months dependent on child’s age to ensure it will fit. Basic items like leggings, bodysuits or t-shirts, underwear, socks and a change of shoes are a must

Tablet holders - Cars with entertainment packages built-in are overrated and expensive. Make your own unit by getting a tablet holder like this: http://amzn.to/1UXi0nR

Charger - Our car has your standard cigarette lighter so we bought a converter for a USB and can use our regular chargers in the car: Satechi® Smart Converter USB Port Cigarette Adapter


Related articles:
Family Trip to DR - What To Pack
Aruba Vacation - Kids Gadgets and Accessories
Aruba - First Family Trip South - Summer Continued
How To Travel Light With Your Family To the Beach
More below..

Toys and Games - Below are a few of ideas for each age group

2 and under:
Brica Mirror
Pull vibrate toys
Toy Arch
Baby Einstein Musical Toy
Electronic Books

2 and over:
Tin Magnet Puzzles
Melissa and Doug Stickers 
Fisher Price Doodle (LARGE)
Fisher Price Doodle (SMALL)
On the Go Color blast - LOVE this
Portable art studio

Trays and containers - a tray and a few spill proof containers will reduce the mess you’ll need to clean up, plus it gives them space to draw, color and play. Win Win!
This tray has it all: http://amzn.to/2606uDr

Spill proof containers are perfect for little hands: http://amzn.to/265BcHP


Car protection gear
We outfitted our leased car with several of these items to protect the vehicle:
Kick Mats: http://amzn.to/2605lvP
Sun Visor: http://amzn.to/1Ub8FJw
Seat protector (works well for rear facing kickers too!): http://amzn.to/1tynjEo
Car Seat Sun Protector (we didn’t want her to touch hot buckles): http://amzn.to/1XYnENu

Emergency Medical Kit
When we travel, I bring any necessary meds with us and do NOT leave it in the car. If you have to, put them in a cooler (extreme hot or cold temps can mess with the meds). You should keep a basic First Aid Kit in the car all the time. It is great to have in case of a scraped knee or cut. This one is perfect for any medical emergency: First Aid Kit 115 Piece for Car

And of course, let’s not forget, snacks and drinks! Bring at least 2 bottles per person of water and a variety of snacks in ZipLocks or individual portions. Granola bars, nuts, goldfish, puffs, cheerios, crackers and other dried snacks are always perfect on the go. Grab some peeled and cut bananas, apples, and other fruit as well in a cooler!

Enjoy the trip and let us know where you went!



Sound-off: What do you think? Let us know below


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Jun 13, 2016

Rio Summer Olympics 2016: What Travelers Need to Know & Pack

Rio Summer Olympics 2016:
What Travelers Need to Know & Pack



Rio Olympic Games 2016 begins on Friday, August 5 and run through Sunday, August 21

Precautions
By this time a lot of folks looking to travel to South America are aware that there is the Zika virus outbreak. In just over two months, Brazil recorded 91,387+ probable cases, as well as a rise of chikungunya and dengue, diseases transmitted by the same mosquito. To make sure you have a great trip without a lot of mosquito bites, pack these travel accessories:

Mosquito Repellent Shirts and Bandanna

Repellent Sprays and Fans

Repellent Bracelets

Getting in there
Currently, a valid passport and tourist visa are required to travel to Brazil. However, it looks like visa requirements may be waived for travel during the Olympics. This is great for travelers during the time period since that would save both time and money.

Good to know:
You must obtain your Brazilian visa in advance from the Brazilian Embassy or consulate nearest to your place of residence in the United States. Visas cannot be obtained at the airport, and immigration authorities will refuse entry into Brazil to anyone not possessing a valid visa.

What Gadgets To Bring:

Smartphone
It is likely to be one of the first things that will be on the list to take along. It is an essential travel planning tool. Though the smartphone is also the communication device, and I am not even talking about making calls. Social media, and sites such as Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook, have become the top news sources around big events. The Olympics of 2016 will be even more so with people from around the world posting messages and pictures from all of the competitions.

Camera
Brazil is known for its colorful scenery, outfits, and people. You would want to capture all of the scenery of the country as well as the Olympic events.

Top Recommendations for Travel & Outdoor Photography

Binoculars
Everyone wants to be close to the action. Though finding tickets that are in the front is either too difficult or too expensive. And some events occur in a large stadium where no matter where you sit you might not see all of the action up close. And a pair of light compact binoculars will come in handy in those cases.

Electrical Adapter
The type N socket and plug are the official standards in Brazil, see image below. In parts of Brazil, an electrical outlet allows for plugs with two round pins, as well as American-style plugs that have two flat prongs. However, that is not common

type n electrical sockettravel adapter

US Travel Adapters

UK Travel Adaptors

Get Ready For Winter (in Brazil)
August is the middle of winter in the southern hemisphere. It happens to be one of the most comfortable months to visit. Rainfall is low, temperatures remain high. The average temperature is 19°C (66°F) at night and up to 26°C (79°F) in the afternoon. Swimming is possible all-year-round in Rio, with a water temperature around 22°C (72°F).


VPN Connection
If you live in the United States, the only way to watch the Olympics is to see it on television. Although NBC has streaming available, only customers with a cable subscription can use the service, which includes the same tape delay as the regular broadcast. The BBC is also streaming the Olympics, and they’re doing it live. The catch is that the stream is region-locked. To bypass the restriction you can use a VPN service, such as the Private Internet Access, to create a proxy that will let you stream the games.

Accessories to take along
Sunscreen - SPF 30 or higher!. Apply it before you leave the room and frequently at the beach. Rio is on the Tropic of Capricorn and the sun is blistering hot. Don't ruin your vacation by baking red as a lobster.

Filter Water Bottle
It's best not to drink the tap water while on your Rio de Janeiro vacation but instead opt for bottled or filtered water. Tap water is fine for bathing, cooking, and washing dishes. Though problems have been known to occur with Rio's water treatment system.

LifeStraw Go Water Bottle with Integrated 1000-Liter LifeStraw Filter

Related Content:
Apple Maps Gets Public Transit Directions For Rio de Janeiro Ahead Of Olympics


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Jun 6, 2016

13 Tips For Safe Summer Road Trips With Kids

Family Travel Safety Tips and Gadgets

2016 is shaping up to be the summer of the road trip
Cheap fuel prices, and with summertime gas prices predicted to be the lowest in 13 years, families have more spare change to spend on their trip. 90% of Memorial Day travelers are planning to go by car according to AAA.

Image: Newsroom.AAA.com

Safety

• Traveling during the warm weather months, give yourself an extra five to ten minutes to get the car cool before putting the kids inside. It can be miserable and also dangerous in a hot vehicle. Plus this will get you off on a better start to your trip.

Make sure the kids have all the snacks and drinks they need

Kids Play Tray for Snacks Great for Car Bus Train and Plane Journeys

Cozy Greens® Backseat Car Organizer - Must Have For Traveling With Kids

High Road Kids Food 'n Fun Car Seat Organizer with Cooler and Snack Tray

Make sure that you have the directions to your destination set up on your GPS

Google Maps App (iTunes/Google Play)

How To: Use Google Maps Offline When Traveling

Waze - GPS, Maps & Traffic (Google Play/iTunes)

Garmin nüvi GPS

Place your sunglasses and glasses by you/driver

Driver’s See Through Sun Visor that blocks glare from the sun and oncoming traffic could be a good idea in addition to glasses.


Take out (if not already) electronic toll collection device, such E-Z Pass, and mount onto the windshield

Phone charger is plugged in and ready to charge phone that is put away into a cupholder

Or if you are using it as GPS or handsfree calling, make sure that the phone mount is securely in place
We have used on many road trips and love the iOttie Easy One Touch Car Mount

Answering the phone on the road is not a safe option. Best, if you do have to, is to use Bluetooth for hands-free system

Related articles:
Family Trip to DR - What To Pack
Aruba Vacation - Kids Gadgets and Accessories
How to Get Your Phone and Tablet Travel Ready
Summer Family Trip to Norwalk CT
more tips for summer road trip below

Entertainment

Keep the backseat passengers busy and enjoying the ride

Travel-Themed kids packs that include 20-page activity booklet, fun souvenirs to review, flashlight adventures, trading cards, stickers and luggage tags. These will keep them busy for awhile.

Play movies and shows

Best way to watch movies in the car is with a mount that would hold the iPad or other tablet in place, hands-free, and away from kids' faces. Giving them a better view and also some distance from the screen.

Listen to music

iPod Nano these days is under $100 and has 16GB of storage which can hold around up to 30 hours of music. More than enough for most road trips.

Share the sound

Better yet, the backseat passengers can share the music, as long as they agree on the genre, for duration of the ride without needing an extra MP3 player. A headphone jack splitter will allow multiple users to plug into the same device and listen to the tunes

Charge All Your Gadgets

Using the car's cigarette lighter, or better name would be an electrical port since we never use it for that, you can charge your gadgets with the USB chargers specifically designed to fit there. We currently have the Griffin dual USB charger in the front. It has been plugged in there for 3+ years. The latest gadget for charging your devices in the car is the Belkin Road Rockstar with 4 USB Ports. Not only does it have the same USB plug for the electrical port, but it also has an extension that is pulled through to the backseat and 2 other devices can be plugged in. The secondary portion has 2.4A ports that can charge tablets.


Extra

The Best Part of Road Trips is…

Water Safety Tips for Kids

Sound-off: What do you think? Let us know below

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Apr 4, 2016

10 Great Smartphone Camera Hacks For Travel

10 Great Smartphone Camera Hacks For Travel


Multiple uses for feature of your device, camera, that is already part of your travel arsenal:

Use it as a mirror
The camera works great to do a quick hair, make-up and teeth check. It’s much more convenient and space saving than carrying an actual mirror. You can also use it look in tight spaces.

Record your parking spot
If you tend to forget where you parked your car in a large parking lot, then take a photo of your pot, specifically the actual spot number or wall or pole next to it. Remember, a photo of the car you’re parked next to is useless if the driver happens to leave before you return.

Save an e-ticket for flights, movies or events
These days I almost always get an e-ticket when I travel. They are easier to carry with you and don't require wasting paper and, therefore, trees. But there have been a couple of times when I’ve had slow cellular service or no WiFi, which makes it hard to access on the spot. Once you get the e-ticket, grab a screenshot so you can pull it up right from your photo library without worrying about log-ins or wireless service.

Save directions
Google Maps app is a great service to use while traveling to find directions and to find places of interest. Though it would not work well if you hit a bad reception area. I have previously put together a guide on how to use the app in such cases:
How To: Use Google Maps Offline When Traveling
This way you load your directions before you leave. As an alternative or in addition, you can take a screenshot of the map and the directions in list view so you have it all easily accessible. This is especially great for rural areas with terrible reception, and urban dwellers who don’t get service underground in the subway. Speaking of which, a screenshot of the local subway map when you travel is a good idea also.

Translate foreign language text
Have you ever been in a foreign country and needed to translate some printed text? These days, that probably involves typing the foreign-language text into your smartphone or laptop and using something like Google Translate to translate it for you. However, there’s a better way — if you’re using Google Translate, you can use the camera function to snap a picture of the text. Google Translate can use optical character recognition (OCR) to automatically interpret the text and translate it for you. It’s does not translate everything it sees 100%, but it can work surprisingly well and is faster than typing in words you don’t recognize. What's also great is that the app will work with no service or in airplane mode for most basic phrases.

Related articles
What Are the Rules For Gadgets On A Flight These Days Anyhow?
What is the one thing you can't travel without?
Hey Siri And Live Photos iOS Features - How They Are Useful For Travel
How to Get Your Phone and Tablet Travel Ready

Create digital copies of important documents
Snap photos of your driver’s license, passport, and other important documents, especially when you’re about to travel.  If your phone settings require a password to get in (which it should), you won’t have to worry about someone else gaining access. Plus, if you use an auto cloud-syncing service you’ll have it backed up somewhere besides your phone.

Scan and OCR documents
Optical Character Recognition, or OCR, is a technology that enables you to convert different types of documents, such as scanned paper documents, PDF files or images captured by a digital camera into editable and searchable data. You can use your smartphone’s camera as a scanner for receipts and other documents you come across. There are apps that are able to convert those photos by performing OCR to analyze the text and convert it into a searchable document. You won’t get the same image quality you would with a flatbed scanner, but this is a much faster, on-the-go way to scan documents.

Memo(ries) for save keeping
Using the phone's camera you can take mementos during your trip to remember later. You can take a picture of labels from wine or beer bottles that you’ve tried and loved at a restaurant or winery/brewery. Also grab a snapshot of your meal, restaurant name, and hotel room number.

Car rental and rental insurance
When renting a car, take a picture of the car and its license plate. This helps when checking in at a hotel and registering the car, not to mention finding it when you have forgotten what the car looks like. In case of a minor fender bender, pull out your phone, document the damage, snap pictures of insurance cards and drivers license info and get back to your vacation.

Currency converter “cheat sheet”
When traveling out of the country, take a screenshot of the sheet with conversion rates for easy access to the info on the go to do some quick calculations.
OANDA Customizable Currency Cheatsheet - this handy tool puts together a wallet-sized 'cheat sheet' for on-the-fly converting. You input your local currency and that of your destination and you get a currency converting sheet that you can easily take a picture of since it is so compact.
Example (US to Brazilian Real):

Scope out nearby places with augmented reality
Augmented reality overlays relevant information over what your smartphone camera sees.
Just point your camera in a given direction and allow an app, such as Yelp for instance, to show you what's nearby. Once you select something you will also be able to get specific directions.

And Oh Yeah, you can also use it to take pictures and video :)







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